Facts and Myths. Poles' Nutrition and Health in an International Context - report 2006

What in your opinion does a healthy diet mainly involve?

Almost all Poles (97%) eat meat, while 4% say there are only certain types of meat they do not eat. However, in this year's survey 12% claimed to have cut down on their consumption of some kind of meat or other during the last year. Poles most often fry meat in a pan (38%), while their favourite fat used is oil, although fat-free cooking is growing in popularity (e.g. using Teflon frying pans).

Poles most often eat fruit between main meals, a rule also observed in the other countries covered by the project (the survey was conducted in the summer). Items eaten between meals significantly more often by Poles than the respondents in the other countries are sandwiches, buns, doughnuts and cakes. Consumers in the USA, Canada and Belgium tend rather to choose savoury snacks: crisps, savoury sticks and crackers.

One's attention is drawn to the fact that Poles relatively often drink alcoholic beverages between meals (above all beer). As many as 10% of the respondents in Poland said they have alcoholic drinks between meals, compared to no more than 3% in the USA and Canada.

Of all the countries covered by the project, Poles constitute the society least interested in buying products with distinct health-related strengths, such as high fibre, whole-grain and low-fat products, or items low in sugar content, low in calories, low in carbohydrate content or containing Omega 3 acids. Barely a few percent of consumers in Poland claimed to be interested in so-called ecological food.

Changes in nutrition

Information publicised by the media regarding healthy nutrition is exerting a certain influence on Polish consumers: almost 40% of the respondents said they had made alterations to how they eat during the past six months, these changes involving cutting back on the consumption of unhealthy products or the addition of new, healthier products to their diet.

Thinking back over the past six months, what would you say have been the biggest changes in your eating habits?

However, if we compare the above data to the findings from the USA and Canada, the Poles come across as a very conservative society. In the USA as many as 76% of consumers talked about changes in their eating habits within the past six months, and in Canada - 60%. The Americans claimed most often to be drinking more water, eating more vegetables, and to have changed their meal times, while the Canadians mentioned an increase in vegetable consumption most often.

Weight

Poland has a higher percentage of consumers than in the other countries covered (the USA, Canada, Belgium and Sweden) considering their body weight to be just right (with 68% of the respondents in Poland voicing this opinion); the Poles also rated the weight of their children very positively. In the meantime, according to the BMI (Body Mass Index, calculated on the basis of declared weight and height), the real percentage of people in Poland who are overweight is comparable to that in the other countries (about 30% in all the countries concerned). However, Poland does have a much lower percentage of obese people in society than elsewhere (9% compared to about 20% in the other countries).

Health

At the same time the Poles - of all the societies surveyed - are the least satisfied with the state of their health. 42% of the population rate their state of health as good, while in all other countries at least 46% were of this opinion. Men are satisfied with their health more often than men (48% compared to 36%), which is probably linked to women caring more about and paying more attention to their health, and going to see the doctor more often.

When asked about diseases that are serious problems in Poland, those mentioned in first place were cancer, heart and circulation disease, and AIDS. Fewer people considered hypertension, diabetes or illness resulting from smoking tobacco as major threats despite such disorders resulting in a larger number of deaths in Poland than AIDS. There has been a significant growth since last year in the numbers mentioning obesity among adults, high cholesterol level, obesity among children, osteoporosis, bulimia and anorexia and also nutritional allergies as serious problems.

As was the case in the previous survey, the Poles showed the lowest level of trust in their doctors of all the countries' respondents: only 39% of Poles fully trust their doctor, and believe that their doctor takes the best decisions for the patient's health.

I fully trust my doctor

When asked about areas of health requiring improvement, Poles said above all that they needed a calmer life (25% - compared to 19% last year), while 17% would like to give up smoking (half of the smoking respondents). Needs mentioned less often were: moving about more, getting more exercise, slimming, and changes in eating habits. At the same time it is worth noting that compared to last year there has been a significant rise (by 6 percentage points) in the percentage of Poles spending their free time in front of the television (currently 72%). Most Poles see no need to increase the amount of physical exercise their children are getting; 64% of parents believe their children have as much exercise as they need, while only one in ten parents feel that their children have insufficient exercise.